Driving Miss Daisy: A Message Still Relevant in 2015

You're probably familiar with Driving Miss Daisy – if for nothing else, the 1989 movie starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman. It won the Oscar in 1990 for Best Adapted Screenplay, having been adapted from the play of the same name.

The story focuses on Daisy, an elderly Jewish woman, who has a car accident. Her son decides she needs to get off the road and hires her a driver, an African-American man named Hoke. We watch their somewhat unlikely friendship evolve against the backdrop of racial turmoil of mid-20th-century Atlanta, as the two find common ground.

Houston's Stages Repertory Theatre is performing Driving Miss Daisy through Sept. 13. Houston Public Media's St. John Flynn talked with director Kenn McLaughlin and actor Sally Edmunson about the play, which McLaughlin says portrays society's struggles with racism – struggles still relevant today – but also something much simpler.

MORE: St. John Flynn’s Extended Interview with Kenn McLaughlin and Sally Edmunson